Awaiting in the Broken Dream
by Rosethorn Li
Summary: Prompt: Yuca and Leon have nothing left to loose.; As he and Yuca await the end of the world, Leon wonders.


**Awaiting in the Broken Dream  
**Yuca and Leon wait for the end.  
**By: Rosethorn Li**

Prompt: _Yuca and Leon have nothing left to lose_

Summary: If it had gone as Rain expected, that he would wait for Yuca to grow up. Yuca waits with a visitor, another person who is on the edge. "End of the world, huh?" Yes, in fact. Nothing left to loose, so what the hell?

Notes: Makes no sort of sense, since I'm writing the end before the beginning. The basic gist is: Leon asked Yuko, the granter of wishes who always asks for a balancing price, to take him to D. The price was too high for a direct route, so he settles for a general direction. Ending up in the world of Immortal Rain.

* * *

"Ain't going to find him here, am I." There was no question in Leon's voice, only fact.

"No." Fact.

Cold voice, cold place, unfamiliar territory. Doesn't matter, 'cause: "End of the world, huh?"

"Yes." Fact, precise.

"What ain't you telling me?" Have to ask, even if he don't got to know.

Chuckle and reply of, "Many things."

Silence. Fiddling with matches as the little kid stares at the wall and man that really ain't healthy.

"Hey…" Kind of hesitant, kind of not, but whole a lot of nothing really.

"Yes, Mr. Orcott," the kid drawls, like he's been expecting it, and he probably is. Can see ten steps ahead of everyone else and that's something, at least, that is familiar.

"Punk. Told you not to call me that." Grumbling, force of habit. Doesn't mean anything he says, any more.

"My apologies." Polite and mannerly. Adult more than a kid for all this guy looked less than ten and hardly more than five.

_He sounds like…_

Cut off that thought and Leon says, a little too fast, "The one you're looking for-"

Interruption. Irritation, though hidden, on the kid's face and in his voice. "I am looking for no one."

"Right, waiting for. Whatever." Have to use the correct terms with this one. He has to know, though, 'cause it doesn't make sense: "This kid…ain't he gunna end up dead, with the rest of them?"

Laughter, dark and cold. _Lost it already? Thought he was broken._ "Immortal Rain…"

Light of a match, glowing ember of a cigarette. "Immortal, huh?"

Explanation: "My creation cannot die."

Smugness. Insanity. Pain. All the things this sad boy is, all Leon sees, and why the hell don't he care?

"Everybody else, though?" Because he has to be sure.

"The End of the World, and you have to ask?"

"Huh." Inhale, exhale, cloud of smoke. Cut back and picked up again, after every one, every one… "Everyone of them, huh."

"Yes." Confirmation of a known truth.

_When'd it get like this?_

Never going to find him. What else is there, after years of searching?

"Why'm I here?" escapes him, and he has no right to feel embarrassed, but he does.

A little hysterical and preachy, the reply. "What do you mean: Why do you exist? What is your reason for living? What is the essentialness of your life among billions?"

"None of those. Leave those kind of questions to the folks who want to know." Pause; breathe, in and out, take a drag and wait for it to settle in. Used to tickled, make him cough. Used to it now. "This place, wherever the hell I am. How did I get here?"

"Have you lost your memory as well, Mr. Orcott? Or do you simply want me to repeat your own words?" _Smug kid. Used to be I'd wanna knock that smirk off his face. When'd I loose that, too?_

"Tell me like I'm stupid, punk." Opening. Will he take it?

Of course. "That would not be hard." _Ass_. That creepy know-it-all smile in place and the kid says, "You negotiated a deal with some sort of 'witch'," and here he pauses in distaste, as if creating an immortal guy ain't a feat of magic science, "to present you in a place with optimum possibilities to find what you search for."

Which is saying D, only Leon never told him the name or that there was a person at all, but the kid's got it figured out, he knows, even if he's being strangely polite about not saying. Anything to his advantage, usually. Why not this?

Guy might have feelings after all.

Continued snottily, high and mighty on his pedestal to say, "Though your judgment was hardly sound in trusting such a person. Look where you ended up." There goes that theory.

Inhale smoke, exhale as a sigh. _Have to wonder what the hell you're thinking. Ain't my place to judge. _Can't say it out load. With him, thinking is clear enough.

"Be quiet for a little while, Mr. Orcott. You could use some time to reflect." Smug brat. Punk kid. Knows better than he aught to but don't use that knowledge worth nothing.

What's he supposed to call this bossy kid, anyway? Kid will cover it for a time, but still…

Things he knows 'bout this kid aren't much, but waiting for the end alone would be worse than hell.

"End of the world…" Muttered to himself, but the other hears.

"How many times will you ask?" Exasperated. Annoyed. Not smug or holier than thou or preachy. Sounding like a kid and not an adult and _man_ was that nice.

"Many times as I wanna." This time he chuckles, much to the kid's indignation, and Leon smiles for the first time in a while. (It could only've been better if the kid'd shouted, "_What?_!" instead of ignoring him for the wall again.)


End file.
